“Since you intend to drag me across Mexico and then the Caribbean while you do it, I can see why I would have a few reasons to blame you.”
He chuckled. “But it’s on a minor scale compared to kidnapping you.”
She found her lips twitching. “It depends on how you look at it.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. My goal in life is to make you look at it my way.” He opened the door. “I’ll go up to the galley and make you a sandwich and a cup of tea. Maybe you won’t have any more bad dreams with something in your stomach.”
“I told you that I’m not hungry.”
“You will be. I make a great club sandwich. Besides, you’ve lost a pound or two since you’ve been on the boat. You really shouldn’t have taken that midnight swim. Burned up a hell of a lot of calories.” His eyes were shimmering with mischief as he opened the door. “I feel bound to correct your mistake in judgment. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”
The door closed behind him.
She stared bemusedly at the door. He had changed again in the space of a heartbeat. Her mind was whirling and she didn’t know what to think … or what to feel. On the surface, it appeared that everything was better and going her way. But just the fact that Lassiter had told her she had won made her suspicious. She might have won a battle, but Lassiter would not even think of suggesting she had won the war. He had even laid out his battle strategy for her.
It would be okay. It wasn’t her nature to dwell on what Lassiter might pull out of his magic bag of tricks to try to convince her that she should go back to Nicos’s island. All she had to do was stick to her determination and everything would be fine. She’d believed Lassiter when he’d made her that promise.
So do as she always did. Lassiter was apparently going to exert himself to be both pleasant and amusing, so enjoy the moment.
And try to find something of value to take with her when she had to leave again.
Vadaz Island
“Margaret Douglas.” Stan Nicos leaned forward in his office chair, his dark eyes suddenly bright with excitement. “You’re positive, Salva? You have her?”
Yes. Juan Salva had known that Nicos’s response would be this intense, and he felt a corresponding excitement himself. He had been right to take the chance on Lassiter. “Not exactly. But I will soon.”
“Not exactly?” The excitement turned to anger and Nicos’s voice lowered threateningly. “What are you doing? You came in here and said that I’d have her. Now you’re waffling? Don’t play games with me.”
Salva said quickly, “Would I do that? I’m not a fool. I know how much you want her.”
“But you haven’t been able to find her in the last three years. You’ve completely failed me, Salva.” Nicos smiled maliciously. “If you hadn’t been useful to me in other ways, I might have been tempted to replace you. That little Greek girl you just brought me from the house in Bogotá is proving to be interesting. You may be an inadequate fool in many ways, but you know my tastes, and as a pimp, you’re superb.”
Salva kept his face expressionless. “I thought she’d please you.” Arrogant son of a bitch. A pimp? He was the one who kept Nicos’s syndicate running on greased wheels and he received no respect from him. “And I know that I haven’t been totally successful in finding Margaret Douglas, but you don’t know how clever she’s been about hiding from us.”
“I don’t know or care,” Nicos said coldly. “You should have expected that when she managed to get off the island. It should never have been permitted. Do I have to do everything? I almost had her broken. In another few days, she would have been kneeling at my feet. You were there. You saw it.”
“Yes, I saw it. That’s why I never thought she’d have the nerve to try to leave you.” Time to change the subject and veer away from that failure. “But we can put that behind us now. I’m certain within a few weeks you’ll have her back. That’s why I made the deal.”
“Deal?”
“Lassiter.” He paused. “He contacted me about six months ago and said that he’d be willing to make an exchange if you’d meet his terms.”
“Lassiter?” Nicos threw back his head and laughed. “My how the mighty have fallen. It must have made him choke to have to come to me.” He frowned. “But he didn’t come to me. He came to you. And it was six months ago. Why didn’t I hear about it?”
“He said he was on her trail. He didn’t actually have her at the time.” He smiled. “But he just called me and said that he does have her now.”
“You believe him? It could be a trick.”
“I believe him. We both know that if anyone could find her, it would be Lassiter. He has both the experience and motivation.” He paused. “And when he came to me, I took the precaution of sending him certain photos to spur his enthusiasm. I hope that’s what you would have done, Nicos?”
Nicos nodded. “Yes, that’s what I would have done.”
“It evidently worked. She’s practically in your hands.”
Nicos scowled. “Which she should have been three years ago.” Then his face cleared as a thought occurred to him. “But we may get her back just in time. Providing you haven’t fumbled this deal with Lassiter.”
Nicos wouldn’t have even had the deal if I hadn’t seen the advantages and negotiated, Salva thought sourly. Everything about Nicos, from his words to the way he looked to his lack of tact, breathed of arrogance. His tall, powerful body, his heavy, dark features and shining brown eyes. And that ugly tongue that Salva often wanted to cut out. Not yet. “You’re thinking about Montego Bay? Yes, just in time. Don’t worry, he’ll be getting back to me.”
“I can’t wait for weeks. I have to have her on the twenty-third,” Nicos said. “And I’ll need to have a few days to get her back to the place I had her when she left me.”
Salva felt confident enough to jab. “On her knees?” he said softly. “You said you hadn’t quite got her to that point.” Then when he saw Nicos start to frown, he added quickly, “But I’m sure that you’ll get there soon. And I’ll just send Lassiter another photo to hurry him along.”
“Do that.” Nicos got to his feet. “And while you’re at it, start thinking of a way for me not to have Lassiter receive anything in return. It’s been far too entertaining having him scurrying around for the last year and a half for me to give it up.”
“We’ve lost four men to him,” Salva reminded him. “And if you’re not going to go through with the exchange, we’ll lose more.”
“Then they won’t be men I want to have working for me anyway. I’ll just replace them.” Nicos turned toward the French doors. “As I discussed doing with you, but you’ve earned a reprieve. You may even get a bonus if you bring me Margaret Douglas by the deadline I gave you.”
“I’ll get right to work on it. Anything else?”
“No, not right now. I’m playing with the new toy you brought me today. I have her down in the pool.” He glanced at Salva over his shoulder. “She’s never had two men at once. Firsts are always exciting. You’re welcome to join us.”
Salva shook his head. “Twelve is too young for me. But if you like, I’ll send Ricardo down. He might enjoy it.”
“It’s only important that I enjoy it,” Nicos said. “Your loss, Salva. Yes, send Ricardo.”
The door closed behind him.
Salva made the call to Ricardo and then sat down at Nicos’s desk and pulled up the Colombian file. He scrolled down, chose a photo, and marked it for Lassiter. He’d send it when he got back to his own office. But he was in no hurry to leave Nicos’s luxurious digs. He sat back and ran his hands caressingly over the fine leather on the arms of the chair.
This is where he belonged, surrounded by all the fine things that Nicos possessed. He’d have them someday when he managed to get rid of that son of a bitch and take over the syndicate himself. He was on his way. He just had to be careful how he balanced what he gave Nicos and what he took for himself.
And Margaret Douglas was going
to be a part of that balance.…
He heard the Greek girl screaming, sobbing, down by the pool. That will please Nicos, he thought as he got to his feet. But it was just noise to Salva, and disturbed the dreams of power and glory to come. He’d go back to own quarters and go over the details of the shipment they were planning from Montego Bay. The more he insinuated himself into the business itself, the more power he took away from Nicos.
Let Nicos have his little girls and his vicious torture games. Salva would give him all he wanted to distract him from what he was losing to Salva every day.
He would even give him Margaret Douglas, who was in a class by herself to Nicos.
As he left Nicos’s house, he realized the Greek girl had stopped screaming.
Careless fools. He hoped that didn’t mean what he thought it did.
Or he might have the bother of going back to Bogotá to get Nicos another girl.
* * *
“Why was it so important that you got that tigress to feed her cub?” Lassiter suddenly asked as he looked up from the chessboard. “Couldn’t they have bottle-fed him or something?”
“They could have, but it wouldn’t have been as healthy for him. Any more than bottle-feeding is considered as healthy for a human baby.”
His gaze narrowed on her face. “But you were willing to risk your neck to make that difference?”
“It wasn’t only the fact that it was healthier. There were other elements that made it—” She looked up at him. “Why are you so curious about those tigers? That’s the third question you’ve asked about them since we came on deck this morning.”
“I have a curious nature.” He smiled. “And I figure it’s sort of a way to learn about you as well as your striped friends. Cause and effect.” He went back to the question. “Why did you think it was important enough to risk your neck?”
Margaret shrugged. “Tigers generally live between fifteen and twenty-five years, and that cub would have had to spend his life without being a member of a family if Zaran hadn’t accepted him. It’s bad enough having to live in a controlled habitat when they should be in the wild. I didn’t want him to be alone.”
“You don’t approve of the zoo’s arrangements for your friends?”
“It’s as good as it can be. They try to use habitats more than cages. And considering the poachers out there, it may be the only way to save the species. They’re really the savages, not the tigers.” Her lips tightened. “But it doesn’t stop me from being sad and trying to help as much as I can to put their lives right.”
“As you did on Summer Island?”
“That was different.” She smiled. “Everyone there wants to do whatever they can to save and help those dogs. Do you know that they have the ability to heal themselves and others just by touch? We’re trying to find out why it’s so predominate in these particular dogs. They’re kept together because the talent seems to be shared if they touch one another. Isn’t that fantastic? It’s a wonderful place.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Things happened.” She shrugged. “And it was time I left there anyway. I’d been there too long.”
“Because you were afraid that Nicos would find you?”
“You found me, didn’t you?” She looked up at him. “My turn. I’ve asked you this before. Why do you want me to go back to Nikos? What am I the key to?”
“He has something I want.” He smiled. “And I have something he wants.”
“You don’t have me.” She pursued it. “What does he have that you want? Tell me.”
He slowly shook his head. “It’s not the right time. You’ve left me with fewer weapons than when I started out. I learned when I was just a kid that if I want to manipulate and have my own way, every single part of a scheme has to flow at just the right tempo. Then I go for high impact. Bad timing can screw up everything.”
“You might as well tell me. You’re not going to get your way anyway.”
He laughed. “I’ll never know if I just give in to you, will I?”
She gave it up and went for something he’d said that had caught her attention. “Just a kid? Why would a kid be thinking of manipulations and schemes and bad timing?”
“I’m sure a lot of children are more manipulative than they’re thought to be.”
“Why were you?” She thought of something else. “You said that growing up you were far from law-abiding. What did you do?”
“Why do you want to know?”
She wasn’t sure herself. “You don’t tell me very much. Maybe I’m just curious. It can’t hurt you to tell me, can it? Do you think that I’ll go call your parole officer or something?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “No, I’m not afraid of that, Margaret. You insult me. I was always too good to get arrested.”
“Too good at what?”
“A few things. I grew up on the streets of Atlantic City under the kind guardianship of my uncle Bruce, who was a con man and gambler and several other less-than-legal occupations. Naturally, he thought a fine, upstanding young boy like me would be an asset, so he took me under his wing.”
Her eyes widened. “That was a terrible thing for him to do.”
He nodded. “In retrospect. But at the time, it was interesting and challenging. My uncle presented it as sort of a game and told me not to think of depressing things like morals or right and wrong. I also had a real flair for computers and I learned how to make them do whatever I wanted, whatever dear Uncle Bruce wanted. As a hacker, I was quite extraordinary.” He added sardonically, “He was very proud.” He saw her expression and shook his head. “You’re looking at me as if I were that tiger cub you were so soppy about. I had a much better childhood than you did. No one beat me or sent me to camp out in the woods.”
“Was your uncle kind to you?”
“Kindness didn’t enter into it. It was all teacher and student. I did what was required and I was repaid with food and clothes and a fairly stimulating life.”
“And that was enough?”
“Of course.” He smiled crookedly. “Until I got busted.”
“Busted? You told me you were never arrested.”
“I wasn’t. But I should have been. When I was seventeen, I hacked into the CIA data banks just out of curiosity to see if I could do it. But they didn’t appreciate that I wasn’t trying to do anything particularly criminal.” He shrugged. “Hey, I admit I might have yielded to temptation if I’d seen anything that was irresistible. But I was mainly doing it to see if I could.”
“But they caught you.”
“The firewalls on my computer weren’t nearly as impenetrable as they are now. I’ve never been that cocky again. I could have ended up in a federal jail for a long, long time.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was paid a visit by a CIA agent, Sean Patrick, who was kinder and more generous than I deserved him to be. They had a complete dossier on me by that time. He told me that he thought that my work in getting into the data banks was brilliant and should be encouraged. Too bad I was going to spend the next twenty years in prison. Then he offered me a deal. I was to spend the next four years in the army and was not to do anything illegal that my uncle Bruce had taught me to do or that I had been innovative enough to think up myself. At the end of that time, I was to be at the service of the CIA for at least another three years.”
“And you took the deal.”
“After trying every way I could to talk my way out of it. But Patrick was not to be conned, even by an expert like me. So three weeks later, I found myself reporting for service.” He grimaced. “And not to a cozy niche babying computers. Patrick had arranged that I was going to go through basic training and, if I qualified, directly to Special Forces. I thought the bastard was trying to get me killed.”
“Cambry told me that you served in Afghanistan, so obviously that didn’t happen. Did you work for the CIA for those three years afterward?”
“Oh, yes. But I decided I wasn’t cu
t out for it. It gave me too much latitude.”
“I would have thought that would have been a plus for you.”
He shook his head. “It was too appealing. As Patrick said, some people have to have at least a hint of boundaries or they try to take it all.” He smiled. “So I spent a year or so developing some computer software that would keep me on the straight and narrow. I opened up my own company and started on the way to becoming the next Steve Jobs.”
“I’d say that was in keeping with trying to take it all,” she said drily.
“But I wouldn’t end up in prison if something went wrong … maybe.” He tilted head and said mockingly, “So there it is. I’ve bared my soul to you. Curiosity satisfied?”
“I guess it is.” She suddenly frowned. “No. What happened to your uncle?”
“He disappeared when the CIA found out what I’d done. I never heard from him again.” He shook his head as he saw her expression. “There you go again. I didn’t expect anything else, Margaret. After I started training, he would have just gotten in my way if he’d tried to lure me back into the fold.”
She didn’t answer.
“It’s the truth, dammit. You have the most idealistic viewpoint, considering that there’s not been anything remotely idealistic in your life.”
“I’m not idealistic, but I try to be optimistic. There’s no way that my father and I could have ever been close. But your uncle and you might have—I don’t know. At least he didn’t physically hurt you. It could have been different. I just hate the waste. If I’d been there, I think I would have tried to change things.”
“Like Zaran and her cub?”
“It worked with them. If I hadn’t been optimistic, I would never have tried.” Her gaze narrowed on his face. “What you told me was kind of personal. I didn’t expect that you’d— Why did you answer me?”
“Maybe because I know the fact that I know so much about you bothers you.” He smiled. “Or maybe it was just the right time. You decide.”